System and method for managing inventory and distribution of hotel rooms by multiple brokers using an online interface

ABSTRACT

An e-commerce based transaction system on a network connected via the Internet to multiple remote computers and mobile phones providing the distribution of hotel room lodging reservations or other lodging sites for location and date of specific events. A central database is hosted on a server and transmitted to individual remote servers or users that can have a respective database of listings from individual brokers oration or other system participants. In the alternative, the blockchain can be a mode of information dissemination. E-commerce transactions are conducted by the system, which performs a number of transaction-related functions, such as posting available hotel room reservations or lodging site reservations for sale, and purchasing spaces for use, resale, brokerage or pure speculation online. The system and methodology accommodate location-based events where hotel rooms are listed by brokers or hotel operators or owners and sold to individual system users and marketed reflective of and in advance of specific time and location sensitive events.

PRIORITY CLAIMS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/051,856, filed Aug. 1, 2018, which is incorporated herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Literally thousands of diverse, lucrative investment options existoutside of the stock market, currency trading, cattle and corn futures,collectables and memorabilia, and so on, if you are willing to research,understand, and go after them. As with all investments regardless ofsize, it always comes down to the inevitable trade-off between risk andreward, and the endless search to turn that maxim on its head bymaximizing the reward while conversely reducing the risk, which untilnow was a financial paradox.

The process of booking a hotel room reservation or lodging sitereservation (e.g., Airbnb) for a future date based upon when aparticular popular event will occur in any global location, or thespeculation of hotel accommodations, follows the present marketconditions of supply and demand. For example, the Super Bowl generateshotel room or other lodging scarcity annually, and solar eclipsesgenerate a path stretching thousands of miles long, and over 50 mileswide of hotels and lodging in sold-out conditions because of theirpaths.

Online e-commerce is enabling and empowering people to monetize anunderutilized asset as never before, by the likes of Uber and Lyft fortransportation, Airbnb for a rarely used spare room, and eBay for asurplus of goods, are all examples of e-commerce based income generationfor individuals. In most cases, democratized platforms allow for usersand purveyors (e.g., Uber drivers) to participate. By having ademocratized platform, Uber enables its users to enjoy a ride or profitfrom being a driver, through the use of an automobile often owned by thedriver.

More importantly, what we see coming again is the emergence of productsand services being offered, that are directly tied into the phenomenondriving Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, and eBay. Businesses such as the recentlylaunched financial service called “loftium.com”, which makes “downpayment” loans to people shopping for homes, by having the homeownerpromise to set one room aside for use as an Airbnb room, and paying thelender a percentage of that rental income.

Loftium's technology predicts how much revenue an Airbnb will generatein the neighborhoods where a customer is house hunting. Using that data,Loftium's team determines how much down-payment assistance each customeris eligible for, thereby having ownership in ten separate rentalincomes. A Loftium type secondary company could not exist without theprimary Airbnb, or how an eBay gave birth to PayPal, or in this case, anexpedia.com or any of the other Online Travel Agents (“OTA”) givingbirth to the likes of a roomspeculator.com and an entirely new Industrycreated around hotel room reservations.

There are always going to be those that will take this opportunity toload up on as many positions as possible. Speculating on lodgingscarcity could be done by an entity set up for that purpose to aggregateas many reservations as possible, much like the ticket scalper, and whatif every lodging site within the path of a several thousand mile long,and 70 miles wide solar eclipse was “online” and available forspeculation years in advance? Then and only then will the Hotel owneroperator know the true value of their property, the hotel room and thetrue cost of a reservation. Indeed, the location and time and exactlocations of the Total Solar event (a moving path over a land, or sea,mass) is so well known forever in advance, that its appearance is carvedin Galactic Granite, so that speculators, agents (or even simply wouldbe viewers) could plan well in advance to take part and invest in theevent opportunity as either a purveyor, speculator, viewer, reseller,Agent, or any combination thereof.

Based on 4 years of subpoenaed data (NYAG 2010-′14) over 100 Airbnbusers had 10 or more properties. So at least in New York City prior torecent legislation, major, million-dollar real estate businesses useAirbnb. It's possible that these apartments are pieces of larger realestate empires. But this data suggests that mostly small-scale investorsuse Airbnb, not real estate companies. Not at all democratized such aswith Uber, likely because real estate carries with it a certainresponsibility for securing a designated spot of land.

With approximately 137,000 hotels in the US, there are approximately5,000,000 rooms available each night in locales with countlessattractions, entertainment and sporting events flourishing throughoutthe year in just about every city in every state, and that's just in theUS. Multiply those numbers by about five and this will give you someidea of the International opportunities. Long-term reservations havesuch high cancelation rates that hotels find themselves rushing aroundat the last minute to fill the gaps left by canceled bookings, whichlogically leads to price reductions, which in turn results in morepeople re-booking reservations, causing a vicious circle of cancellingand rebooking of reservations. What does not exist is a true “real time”exchange (like a commodities exchange) value of hotel rooms and lodgingsites, independent of ownership or management, across all brands andmodes of land control, from Airbnb to hotels to trailer parks and so on.Until now, and because of our system that can track and verify the truevalue of a given room, on a given day in a specific location. What doesexist is an arbitrary room value, calculated and set in place based onthe same arbitrary values used before, that are calculated months inadvance, and booked on flawed data as to what the hotel owner operator“thinks” the room is worth. This information is then processed by theOTA's in their race to sell the room as quickly and for as cheaply aspossible, having never let the “real-time” market dictate what theroom's value is at its most valuable moment in time. What is proposed isa system that allows for the true value of a room's worth to be tracked,calibrated and compiled so the Hotel owner operator can better track histrue margins and operating costs, proving to be as beneficial to theHotel owner operator as Uber is to the world's ride-sharing public.

In 2015, a few of the major hotels began to extend the minimum notice ofcancellation for guests to avoid fees. Some went from 6 p.m. on day ofarrival to 24 hours or as much as “14 days notice required”. Prior tothat, hotels such as Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide andInterContinental Hotels Group, among others, adopted a strategy to offernonrefundable room rates at a lower price point.

According to a recent Travel Weekly report, hoteliers have since foundthat offering the discounted, nonrefundable rates to guests that bookearlier in the booking window is moving the needle much more thanincreased cancellation fees. The article cites the New York MarriottMarquis, which was offering prepaid, nonrefundable rooms forlate-September weekend dates at about a 15% discount when the storypublished. One wrinkle in hotels requiring travelers to pay in advancefor a nonrefundable rate is that it takes away an advantage thathoteliers had over OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), which are not oftenable to offer hotel rooms with favorable cancellation policies attachedto them.

Lastly, the existing high percentage of reserved room cancellations willobfuscate to a considerable degree any additional room reservationincreases our speculators are adding to the mix, thereby shielding usand the real-time information we have at our disposal from hotels reallyknowing the true value of the service we are providing for an unknownperiod of time, at which point the “buzz” sets in along with reality. Itis a well-known fact that people often double or triple book hotels inor near a Super Bowl, either close by, an intermediate range away oreven further away, for no discernible reason other than knowing thatreservations “don't cost anything”. The industry and the consumers endup both suffer ng in the end through higher hotel prices and beingforced to endure less than optimal lodging situations, which is exactlyone of the ills our system cures. The speculators book the rooms, listthem on our site, and parcel them off a few at a time, maximizing thevalue of each, that which is then shared with the Hotel owner operator,who was not bothered or inconvenienced in any way during thesetransactions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method for providing thecontrolled distribution and listing access for purchased hotel roomreservations and lodging reservation sites, either for personal use,resale, brokerage, collection or speculation. Room or lodging sitereservation inventory is created by way of an event lodging generator,which either accepts hotel room or lodging site reservation inventoryfrom owners or operators or tenants with the right to sublet, or maygenerate inventory, based on events in the future with a specific dateand geographic site(s) certain for occurrence. In one embodiment,transactions are facilitated through a central database that is hostedon an exchange server and transmitted to individual remote servers thatcan have a respective database of listing reservations from individualbrokers or Hotel owner operators, or some other type of third partyaggregator. This network-based system allows a broker, or “speculator”or agent to list pre-purchased, or some other restrictive caveat orreservation reserved hotel room reservation, on a database, whereby oneor more recipients, or system “users” or visitors, are able to thenpurchase the reservation of that hotel room from the speculator.

According to the present invention, it is recognized that lodging sites,hotel rooms and the like, are overwhelmingly fungible. No trulydemocratized online resource exists for buying and selling, trading andbrokering, and otherwise, an asset subject to speculation. The presentinvention helps the travel industry by providing for all fees andpricing, advertising fees and even data transfer fees. The presentinvention, for the first time, provides the travel industry with a wayto obtain metrics, cross-brand and even cross-method for providinglodging from hotel spaces to Airbnb, in response to the recognition thatcertain future events will draw crowds. Indeed, said crowds may eveninclude those associated with a solar eclipse.

The present invention is a flexible software platform that encompasses avariety of features, including but not limited to: property managementsoftware; vendor partnerships; guest communications; marketplaceconnectivity; reporting tools; cancellations; a brokerage portal forspeculators, buyers, agents, hotel owner/operators; a communicationshub; staff management; payment processing, commission tracking andpayment; channel management; and reservation bookings. Furthermore, atevery point, any entity or person with a right to a hotel or lodgingsite may “change roles”, so that the potential occupant for a covetedhotel room reservation may decide “I would rather offer my right forresale”, thus becoming a Speculator, or “I want to hold this and sell ifa desired price is reached”, a speculator who's heart is in the event,not in the money, and if not offered enough, deciding to “stay asplanned”.

According to the present invention, a form of variable geo-fencing maybe used to provide that hotel rooms or lodging sites within bands ofproximity to an event, and may reflect varying rate bands, so that thecloser an asset is to an event, the more its pricing will be increased,taking into account supply and demand. However, it is not a requirementof the present invention that closer necessarily means more expensive,as an object of the present invention is true democratization so thatsystem users or participants establish pricing based on demand and otherrelevant asset distributor, owner or operator parameters or incentives.

One embodiment of the present invention is a countdown alert that issent to the online visitor, to alert them that time to purchase thehotel room reservation is running out. This alert can also be deliveredto notify the speculator as well as the agent, to notify them of thetime remaining on the reservation listing.

The present invention is also capable of expansion to incorporate othertravel related services, including but not limited to: sightseeingtours; car rentals, leases and sales; yacht rentals, leases and sales;private airline bookings, leases and sales; restaurant reservations;local travel guides; specialty retailers; and points of interest withina specific geographical area. Additionally, we have reserved thecapability of adding other tangible assets beyond real estate, hotelsand properties in general, by readying a platform to addressspeculations on jewelry, art, precious stones and rare earth metals,etc., to name a few of the many possibilities before us.

By way of a reservation example, let's assume a potential hotel roomuser or even a speculator “A”, on Jan. 5, 2018 books a room in a SkiLodge in Vermont in November for Spring Break, April 2019 at $200 pernight, for Friday & Saturday, check-out Sunday. On or about Jan. 5,2019, Party “A” then lists the room on a site according to the presentinvention for an amount more than what it was booked for, and for lessthan what it is currently being offered for at surrounding hotels sinceSpeculator “A” is in a sold out hotel at the base of the Ski Lift, aslong as that current offering amount is greater than the originalbooking amount. In this event, Party “A” started out as the room Userand is now a Speculator and can also list the room with a sliding scaleso as the deadline to cancel approaches, the reservation amount can bereduced daily until either flipped or cancelled or the Speculatordecides to use the room. Four months later in May or June of that year,the lodge is booked and the closest hotel to the lifts is 30 miles awayat $400 per night. But the Hotel owner operator has no “moral” way tomake Speculator “A” pay closer to the true value of the room, withoutsome severe public blowback. Of course, during Spring Break, snow is nota certainty, and so room prices can collapse at any moment. With thepresent invention, the hotel prices are dynamic in real time, and thesellers and buyers are totally democratized, so that a room reservationat a hotel may be procured via many sources and not a simple website ortoll-free phone number as is often the case.

If flipped, the buyer (Party “B”, a buyer) pays the agreed upon roomrate (in this case $300), plus an X (X %) percent Processing & Handlingfee, and is then provided with a reservation number that matches theoriginal $200 registration. The Hotel/Lodge is paid in full for thestay, and after Party/Client “B” checks in, arrangements are made to paySpeculator “A” an amount equal to the difference he originally bookedthe room for, less a XX (XX %) percent Processing & Handling fee. Ofcourse, according the present invention, any number of financialarrangements may be made.

As the program grows and develops, ancillary amenities such as Concert,Sport, Theater Tickets, Restaurant reservations, Pre-paid Tours andExcursions, Private Aviation, etc., might also become an additionalrevenue stream connected to a given room reservation as a bonus oradditional incentive to move room reservation inventory.

According the present invention, it is recognized that certain eventsoccur which cause a temporary lodging site or hotel room shortage in agiven area within a certain range of dates. For example, the Super Bowlcreates a severe shortage of lodging shortage within a large geographicregion. Also, solar eclipses occur rarely and cause a severe shortage oflodging sites and hotel rooms, over a wide-ranging geographic region,stretching thousands of miles long and over 50 miles wide, in the pathof this amazing and rare event. According to the present invention, thepath of the solar eclipse can be mapped decades in advance across theglobe, and speculators may offer to buy up all the inventory in the pathof the event. Who is a speculator? Who is an Agent? That process may bedemocratized, similar to Uber, so that any person or entity may become aspeculator or Agent of a lodging, hotel, camp ground, etc. Any person orentity may decide to “reserve” or “buy up” if called for, as muchinventory as desired in the path of the event, from hotel rooms toAirbnb sites to even parking lots upon which motor homes may rest orcampgrounds. Agents and speculators are locals with knowledge thatapproach a given hotel and introduce them to participate in our system,and in return receive a commission. Speculators are the ones that knowwhich hotels sell out and book a reservation in said hotel and receive amuch bigger reward when the room reservation is sold. When the Agentrealizes how much more money the Speculator made for the same amount ofrisk, the Agent becomes a Speculator. In short, the original owners ofthe lodging sites and hotel rooms are always made whole if they want toremain as they were and get their standard rate out of the gate. But,being made whole is actually being denied, knowing the true value oftheir property. Once the speculators set the secondary market, therewill be winners and losers, much like Stub Hub operates for tickets tocontrolled events. Except in the Stub Hub example, it's not trulydemocratized, as Stub Hub is merely a broker who wins on brokerage feesonly. According to the present invention, any party can be a broker,speculator or agent as the inventory for spaces is offered by so manydiverse and unrelated parties. For example, for a solar eclipse,thousands of lodging sites may exist per square unit of measurement,versus tickets to a sporting event are offered by just one eventoperator such as a sports franchise. Unlike our System, with Stub Hubyou can only become a speculator if you own/possess the ticket, whileanyone in our System can become a Speculator, an Agent, an advertiser orjust a casual visitor.

Other features and aspects of the disclosed technology will becomeapparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, thefeatures in accordance with embodiments of the disclosed technology. Thesummary is not intended to limit the scope of any inventions describedherein, which are defined solely by the claims attached hereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram overview of the system and components of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the control administrator component of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the speculator component of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the system user component of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of the event generator component of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the allocation of event generation andrights within the listing marketplace of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of the purchase process and revenue sharingcomponent of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a line diagram illustrating a decentralized network.

FIG. 9 is a line diagram illustrating a distributed network.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the connections between the users andsystem of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating online visitor use of the presentinvention.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating additional visitor use of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is an example of analytical data used in the allocation of eventgeneration and rights in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Various embodiments are described for enabling an online hotel roomreservation marketplace. Numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. The specificstructural and functional details disclosed herein may be representativeand do not necessarily limit the scope of the embodiments.

FIG. 1 diagrams the overall system and components of the presentinvention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the online system interface 100 is stored on a central server102. The system interface 100 is monitored and controlled by the systemadministrator 104. The system administrator 104 communicates directlywith system advertisers 106, whereby the system administrator 104 canintegrate approved advertisements into the system interface 100. Thesystem interface 100 consists of: agents 108; speculators 112; andindividual users 114. An agent 108 is a type of system user that servesas the primary communication and listing content link between the systeminterface 100 and the hotel 110. A speculator 112 is a system user thatfunctions as a listing poster and hotel room reservation broker. Thespeculator lists reservations on the system interface 100 available forpurchase. The individual user 114 functions as the consumer and can usethe interface 100 as a means of searching or browsing for listed hotelroom reservations on order to purchase reservations posted by thespeculator 112 or the agent 108.

FIG. 2 diagrams the control administrator component of the presentinvention. In accordance with the present invention, the administrator200 communicates directly with the system interface 202 to monitor allinterface content and control all content displayed within the interface202. The administrator 200 also serves as the control moderator and isable to interface directly to: agents 204; hotels 206; advertisers 208;speculators 210; and individual users 212.

FIG. 3 diagrams the speculator component of the present invention. Inaccordance with the present invention, a speculator 300 is a system userthat can broker hotel room reservations by posting the reservationsalready reserved by the speculator 300 to the system interface 306. Thespeculator 300 is also able to communicate directly with hotels 302 orwith agents 304 that communicate on behalf of hotels 302. The speculator300 lists a purchased reservation on the system interface 306 as a roomlisting 310. All listings are monitored and controlled within the systeminterface 306 by the system administrator 308. A room listing 310 can beviewed and then purchased by the individual system user 312.

FIG. 4 diagrams the individual system user component of the presentinvention. In accordance with the present invention, a system user 400accesses the system interface 402 online through a web browser or amobile smartphone device. The user 400 can then view the listingsdatabase 404 through the system interface 402. The user 400 can use thelisting search function 406 in the database 404 to specify or filter 408the listings to meet the requirements of the user 400. Listing searchfilters 408 can include but are not limited to: filtering listings bydate 410; filtering listings by room type 412, for example the roomsize; and filtering listings by price 414. Once the filtering parameters408 have narrowed the listing results, the user 400 is able to obtainthe details 416 for each listing by selecting the specific listing. Ifthe user 400 decides to purchase the room reservation, the user mustcomplete the payment details on the payment portal 418. Once paymentdetails have been securely verified and processed within the paymentportal 418, the user 400 receives a transaction confirmation of the roomreservation 420.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of the event generator component of the presentinvention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the Event Generator 500 is a component within the systeminterface that allows the system user to search listings by events. TheEvent Generator consists of: historic events 502 that have occurredpreviously; fixed events 504 that occur on a set date; fluctuatingevents 506 whereby the date and time can change; and user uploadedevents 508 that have been uploaded by system users. Within the EventGenerator 500, the user can also filter events by event date 510, andevent time 512. The Event Generator 500 also allows for specifying thelocation through the use of geo-fencing 514. The user can view a mapwith a specific geo-fence perimeter, and view listings that are withinthe primary 516, or secondary boundary 518 of the fence perimeter, aswell as listings that are located out of the geo-fence boundary 520.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the allocation of event generation andrights within the listings marketplace of the present invention. Inaccordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, hotelroom reservation listings function as the primary commodity in thelistings marketplace. The system user 612 can view listings and selectlistings from within the listings marketplace 610 and select purchaseoptions for the listings through the purchase of rights and reservations600 portal. The system user has the ability to sell listings 602;reserve listings 604; share 606 the listing rights and reservations; andtrade 608 the listing rights and reservations with other users for theirlisting rights and reservations.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of the purchase process and revenue sharingcomponent of the present invention. In accordance with the preferredembodiment of the present invention, the speculator 700 reserves a roomat a hotel 702 and then posts that reservation on the listingmarketplace 704. The listing price 706 will be set for an amount greaterthan the original reservation amount, and the speculator has the optionto select a fixed price 708 or set the price at a sliding scale 710,whereby the listing price gradually decreases as the reservation dateapproaches. Once the listing is purchased by a system user 712, paymentis allocated 714 to the hotel 716 where the reservation was originallymade as well as a handling fee 718, a percentage of the total listingprice, paid to the system administrator. Once the reservation isredeemed 720 when the user checks in to the hotel, the remainingpurchase price is paid to the speculator 722, minus a handling fee 724percentage paid to the system administrator from the profit amount paidto the speculator.

FIG. 8 is a line diagram illustrating a decentralized network. Inaccordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, thespecific architecture of the network can be either decentralized ordistributed. FIG. 8 provides an illustrative diagram of thedecentralized network. FIG. 8 depicts each node with a dot 800. Underthis system, each node is connected to at least one other node 802. Onlysome nodes are connected to more than one node 804.

FIG. 9 is a line diagram illustrating a distributed network. Inaccordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, eachnode in the distributed network 900 is represented by a dot 902. Unlikea decentralized network, each node of a distributed network is directlyconnected to at least two other nodes 904. This makes it more difficultto attach a distributed network. The present invention can be deployedon a centralized, decentralized, or distributed network.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the connections between the users andsystem of the present invention. In accordance with the preferredembodiment of the present invention, the agent 1002 signs up hotels 1000to allow for the posting of sold out room listings 1006 on the onlinelisting marketplace 1008. The agent 1002 contacts hotels 1000 by phone,email or in person and is paid a Ten (10%) percent commission on the feeamount that the speculator 1004 receives from the sale of the listing1006, as well as 10% of any marketplace 1008 ads generated by the agent1002. The agent's 1002 10% commission is calculated on the amount offees received by the online marketplace 1008 from the purchase by user1010. The speculator's 1004 80% commission is calculated on the amountthe reservation is resold to the user 1010 and agrees to the 20%Processing & Handling fees. The hotel 1000, in return for allowing roomsto be re-sold on the listing marketplace 1008, receives 50% of theProcessing & Handling Fees received by the marketplace 1008, less the10% commission paid to the agent 1002.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating online visitor use of the presentinvention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, an online visitor 1102 is informed by an online travel agency1100 that rooms for a specific date are booked. The online visitor 1102contacts the hotel and is directed to the online listing marketplace1104. The online visitor 1102 browses the marketplace 1104 and is ableto filter the listings by criteria such as but not limited to: Event,Country, or Date. The online visitor 1102 selects the listing fromfiltered criteria and then makes a bid 1108 on specific listingreservation. If the bid matches the speculator's ask, the speculator isinformed 1116 by the marketplace 1104 of sale, after the visitor 1102provides payment details through the marketplace payment portal 1112.The system marketplace 1104 then notifies the hotel 1118 with thevisitor's information and processes the visitor's 1102 payment forbooking the listing, plus 10% Processing & Handling Fee. The marketplaceinstructs the speculator to pay the hotel in full for the originalbooking price, and once notified by the hotel of receipt of payment, thespeculator is reimbursed payment less 20% processing and handling fee.The marketplace pays the hotel 50% of processing and handling fees paidby the room speculator, less 10% of amount of fees the marketplacereceived from the speculator on sale of the listing reservation. Thelisting marketplace then posts amount room was sold for 1120, which thenbecomes barometer for other similar speculator listed properties.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating additional visitor use of thepresent invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, the online visitor 1200, contacts the online travelagency 1202 to research prices and to book reservation for specificdate(s) at specific location. The visitor 1200 transmits to the travelagency 1202 specific information and criteria 1204 such as, but notlimited to: room/bed preferences, number of people, children, healthissues, credit card (cc) information, contact information, and identitydata. The travel agency 1202 transmits to the Hotel 1208 specificinformation and criteria 1204 received from the visitor 1200. The agency1202 transmits back to Hotel 1206 if room reservation is acceptablebased on specific information and criteria 1204 it received. The hotel1206 transmits acceptance 1208 of reservation or transmits not availableif room already reserved 1214. If Hotel 1206 accepts reservation 1208,the travel agency 1202 transmits acceptance of reservation to thevisitor 1200 and sends the visitor's personal information, credit cardand contact credentials to Hotel 1206 along with an amount that can becharged to hold reservation if required 1210. If the hotel 1206 declines1214, it transmits that information to the agency 1202 which thenremoves room price from website 1216 and transmits to the visitor 1200that the room is already booked, and to contact hotel directly, wherebythe visitor 1200 is re-directed to the online listings marketplace 1218.Once a hotel becomes marketplace 1218 client, it is the responsibilityof agent to ensure that the hotel has posted its direct contactinformation on its website and on that of travel agency websites, andthat when a “booked” situation occurs, Hotel knows to automaticallynotify all reservation holders of the opportunity, and that if they wishto change or modify their existing reservation in exchange for an amountdetermined by them, to contact the system marketplace directly. Thisreleases the hotel of any obligation as to the “Processing & Handling”fees, as well as to the distribution and amounts of said fees.

FIG. 13 is an example of analytical data used in the allocation of eventgeneration and rights in accordance with the present invention. Theexample illustrated in FIG. 8 is a graph pertaining to a list of citiesthat will be in the visible pathway for an upcoming eclipse event,comparing the average cloud fraction based on historical weather dataalong the Y axis. To the duration and altitude of each listed city alongthe X axis. This data is then used to determine the optimal location toview the event, and thereby generating the value of hotel rooms in eachof the listed cities for the event based on market interest for thatparticular event.

While various embodiments of the disclosed technology have beendescribed above, it should be understood that they have been presentedby way of example only, and not of limitation. Likewise, the variousdiagrams may depict an example architectural or other configuration forthe disclosed technology, which is done to aid in understanding thefeatures and functionality that may be included in the disclosedtechnology. The disclosed technology is not restricted to theillustrated example architectures or configurations, but the desiredfeatures may be implemented using a variety of alternative architecturesand configurations. Indeed, it will be apparent to one of skill in theart how alternative functional, logical or physical partitioning andconfigurations may be implemented to implement the desired features ofthe technology disclosed herein. Also, a multitude of differentconstituent module names other than those depicted herein may be appliedto the various partitions. Additionally, with regard to flow diagrams,operational descriptions and method claims, the order in which the stepsare presented herein shall not mandate that various embodiments beimplemented to perform the recited functionality in the same orderunless the context dictates otherwise.

Although the disclosed technology is described above in terms of variousexemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood thatthe various features, aspects and functionality described in one or moreof the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability tothe particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead maybe applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of theother embodiments of the disclosed technology, whether or not suchembodiments are described and whether or not such features are presentedas being a part of a described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scopeof the technology disclosed herein should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments.

Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unlessotherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open ended as opposedto limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” shouldbe read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like; the term“example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item indiscussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof; the terms “a” or“an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more” or thelike; and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,”“standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construedas limiting the item described to a given time period or to an itemavailable as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompassconventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that may beavailable or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, wherethis document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known toone of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass thoseapparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in thefuture.

The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “atleast,” “but not limited to” or other like phrases in some instancesshall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or requiredin instances where such broadening phrases may be absent. The use of theterm “module” does not imply that the components or functionalitydescribed or claimed as part of the module are all configured in acommon package. Indeed, any or all of the various components of amodule, whether control logic or other components, may be combined in asingle package or separately maintained and can further be distributedin multiple groupings or packages or across multiple locations.

Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described interms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations.As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art afterreading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their variousalternatives may be implemented without confinement to the illustratedexamples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying descriptionshould not be construed as mandating a particular architecture orconfiguration.

What is claimed is:
 1. A tangible computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-executable instructions implemented by a computingsystem for storing event information indicative of pre-establishedcrowd-drawing events wherein said event information is either providedby an external database or generated internally in response topre-established crowd-drawing events, comprising: receiving, at one ormore remote servers, input from a speculator electronic device, whereinsaid input includes at least an offer of occupancy corresponding withsaid pre-established crowd-drawing events, and prompting a user forpayment at one or more remote servers and providing verification of saidpayment for said user of said user's payment at one or more remoteservers; providing, at one or more remote servers, a legal contractgenerator which operates in response to said offers of legallycontrolling occupancy and providing said user of said one or more remoteservers with confirmation and verification of said payment by said user;generating, at one or more remote servers, a contract for occupancy bysaid legal contract generator, in which said contract is generatedcorresponding to said pre-established crowd-drawing event in response toacceptance by a lodging reservation supervisor; storing, at one or moreremote servers, newly created off-site inventory wherein a party maylegally obtain control over said contract for occupancy and control itsfuture sales pricing and terms; exchanging, at one or more remoteservers, bids for said newly created off-site inventory from one or morespeculator electronic devices; processing, at one or more remoteservers, payment from one or more speculator electronic devicescorresponding to the purchase of said newly created off-site inventory;calculating, at one or more remote servers, distribution of payment fromone or more speculator electronic devices; listing, at one or moreremote servers, a purchase price corresponding to payment from one ormore speculator electronic devices corresponding to the purchase of saidnewly created off-site inventory; evaluating, at one or more remoteservers, potential pricing for other similar speculator listedproperties corresponding to said pre-established crowd-drawing events,and wherein said payment price is securely paid for and verified by saidremote servers on account of said users in communication with a securedpayment portal and wherein said user receives a transaction confirmationrelated to said payment, and wherein said user contacts said lodgingreservation supervisor and is directed to an online listing marketplaceand wherein said user browses said marketplace and said user is able toselectively filter said marketplace listings by availability criteria sothat said lodging reservation supervisor may ascertain if a roomreservation is acceptable based on specific information and criteria itreceived, and in the event acceptable said lodging reservationsupervisor transmits acceptance of reservation if availability exists,and if said lodging reservation supervisor accepts said reservation thensaid user's payment and contact credentials are presented to saidlodging reservation supervisor to hold said reservation, and thenacceptance of said reservation is transmitted to said user and in turnsaid user's personal information, credit card and contact credentialsare transmitted to said lodging reservation supervisor who in turnprocesses said payment and removes available room prices from publicwebsites.
 2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, furthercomprising determining, at one or more remote servers, primary and/orsecondary geo-fence perimeter bands corresponding to saidpre-established crowd-drawing events and receiving at one or more remoteservers global positioning service signals, wherein said one or moreremote servers compares said global positioning service signals withsaid geo-fence perimeter bands, wherein said speculator electronicdevice includes a graphical user interface (GUI) for indicating to aspeculator a status indicative of whether said legal contract has beenaccepted by said lodging site supervisor, wherein said GUI furtherdisplays said primary and/or secondary geo-fence perimeter bandscorresponding to said pre-established crowd-drawing events.
 3. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein said tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium is located remote from a newly createdoff-site inventory speculator storage device.
 4. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 2 wherein said speculator storage device is asmartphone including a display for indicating to a speculator a statusindicative of whether said legal contract has been accepted by saidlodging site supervisor.
 5. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 1 wherein said lodging site supervisor is associated with atraditional lodging site with its own traditional automated reservationsystem and wherein said traditional automated reservation systeminterfaces with said legal contract generator to remove from inventorythe availability of a lodging provision by way of said traditionalautomated reservation system.
 6. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 5 wherein a third-party speculator may enter into a plurality ofcontracts via said legal contract generator in order to acquire lodginginventory in advance of an expected event located at a predeterminedlocation.
 7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein aplurality of third-party speculators may bid against one another toobtain the rights to said newly created off-site inventory for eitheruse by an end consumer or resold to other of said speculators.
 8. Aninventory management system comprising: a plurality of remote serversincluding at least one database; and at least one speculator electronicdevice; wherein the at least one speculator electronic device is innetwork communication with the plurality of remote servers; wherein theat least one database includes inventory data and event data, whereinthe inventory data includes purchased lodging data, price data, datedata, and location data, and wherein the event data includes eventlocation data and event time data; wherein the inventory data furtherincludes purchased lodging data for at least two properties, wherein theat least two properties are positioned at different geographic sites;wherein the plurality of remote servers is configured to display thepurchased lodging data via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the atleast one speculator electronic device; wherein the at least onespeculator electronic device is configured to filter the displayedpurchased lodging data by date selection, location selection, eventselection and/or price selection via the GUI; wherein the at least onespeculator electronic device is further configured to display aplurality of geo-fencing bands for the inventory data based on thelocation selection and/or the event selection; wherein the plurality ofremote servers is configured to receive a purchase request for theinventory data via the at least one speculator electronic device;wherein the purchase request includes payment data; wherein theplurality of remote servers is operable to approve or deny the purchaserequest for the inventory data based on verification of the paymentdata; and wherein the plurality of remote servers is configured toupdate the inventory data based on the approval or the denial of thepurchase request.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality ofremote servers is configured to increase a price of remaining inventorydata after approval of a purchase request.
 10. The system of claim 8,wherein the plurality of remote servers is configured to receive atleast one bid for the inventory data from the at least one speculatorelectronic device, wherein the plurality of remote servers is configuredto accept the at least one bid if the at least one bid meets at leastone price threshold, wherein the plurality of remote servers isconfigured to send a notification to the at least one speculatorelectronic device, wherein the notification includes confirmation of theapproval of the at least one bid.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein theplurality of geo-fence bands includes a first geo-fence boundary, and asecond geo-fence boundary, wherein the at least one speculatorelectronic device is further operable to display inventory data forinventory within the first geo-fence boundary, inventory data forinventory within the second geo-fence boundary, and inventory data forinventory outside the plurality of geo-fence bands.
 12. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the at least one speculator electronic device isconfigured to receive at least one price command via the GUI, whereinthe at least one price command includes decreasing a price for theinventory data based the event data, wherein the plurality of remoteservers is configured to decrease a price of the inventory data as adate of an event gets closer.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein the atleast one database further includes historical weather data, wherein theplurality of remote servers is configured to compare the historicalweather data and the event data, wherein the plurality of remote serversis operable to determine at least one ideal location based on thecomparison of the historical weather data and the event data, whereinthe plurality of remote servers is configured to generate at least onevalue of the inventory data based on the at least one ideal location.14. A method for providing lodging accommodations using a tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructionsimplemented by a computing system for storing event informationindicative of pre-established crowd-drawing events wherein said eventinformation is either provided by an external database or generatedinternally in response to pre-established crowd-drawing events,comprising the steps of: receiving, at one or more remote servers, inputfrom a speculator electronic device, wherein said input includes atleast an offer of occupancy corresponding with said pre-establishedcrowd-drawing events, and prompting a user for payment at one or moreremote servers and providing verification of said payment for said userof said user's payment at one or more remote servers; providing, at oneor more remote servers, a legal contract generator which operates inresponse to said offers of legally controlling occupancy and providingsaid user of said one or more remote servers with confirmation andverification of said payment by said user; generating, at one or moreremote servers, a contract for occupancy by said legal contractgenerator, in which said contract is generated corresponding to saidpre-established crowd-drawing event in response to acceptance by alodging reservation supervisor; storing, at one or more remote servers,newly created off-site inventory wherein a party may legally obtaincontrol over said contract for occupancy and control its future salespricing and terms; exchanging, at one or more remote servers, bids forsaid newly created off-site inventory from one or more speculatorelectronic devices; processing, at one or more remote servers, paymentfrom one or more speculator electronic devices corresponding to thepurchase of said newly created off-site inventory; calculating, at oneor more remote servers, distribution of payment from one or morespeculator electronic devices; listing, at one or more remote servers, apurchase price corresponding to payment from one or more speculatorelectronic devices corresponding to the purchase of said newly createdoff-site inventory; evaluating, at one or more remote servers, potentialpricing for other similar speculator listed properties corresponding tosaid pre-established crowd-drawing events, and wherein said paymentprice is securely paid for and verified by said remote servers onaccount of said users in communication with a secured payment portal andwherein said user receives a transaction confirmation related to saidpayment, and wherein said user contacts said lodging reservationsupervisor and is directed to an online listing marketplace and whereinsaid user browses said marketplace and said user is able to selectivelyfilter said marketplace listings by availability criteria so that saidlodging reservation supervisor may ascertain if a room reservation isacceptable based on specific information and criteria it received, andin the event acceptable said lodging reservation supervisor transmitsacceptance of reservation if availability exists, and if said lodgingreservation supervisor accepts said reservation then said user's paymentand contact credentials are presented to said lodging reservationsupervisor to hold said reservation, and then acceptance of saidreservation is transmitted to said user and in turn said user's personalinformation, credit card and contact credentials are transmitted to saidlodging reservation supervisor who in turn processes said payment andremoves available room prices from public websites.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 14, further comprising determining, at one or moreremote servers, primary and/or secondary geo-fence perimeter bandscorresponding to said pre-established crowd-drawing events and receivingat one or more remote servers global positioning service signals,wherein said one or more remote servers compares said global positioningservice signals with said geo-fence perimeter bands, wherein saidspeculator electronic device includes a graphical user interface (GUI)for indicating to a speculator a status indicative of whether said legalcontract has been accepted by said lodging site supervisor, wherein saidGUI further displays said primary and/or secondary geo-fence perimeterbands corresponding to said pre-established crowd-drawing events. 16.The method according to claim 14 further comprising locating saidtangible computer-readable storage medium remote from a newly createdoff-site inventory speculator storage device.
 17. The method accordingto claim 14 wherein a smartphone is used as said speculator storagedevice for providing a display for indicating to a speculator a statusindicative of whether said legal contract has been accepted by saidlodging site supervisor.
 18. The method according to claim 14 whereinsaid lodging site supervisor is associated with a traditional lodgingsite with its own traditional automated reservation system and whereinsaid traditional automated reservation system interfaces with said legalcontract generator to remove from inventory the availability of alodging provision by way of said traditional automated reservationsystem.
 19. The method according to claim 18 wherein a third-partyspeculator may enter into a plurality of contracts via said legalcontract generator in order to acquire lodging inventory in advance ofan expected event located at a predetermined location.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 19 wherein a plurality of third-party speculators maybid against one another to obtain the rights to said newly createdoff-site inventory for either use by an end consumer or resold to otherof said speculators.
 21. The method according to claim 14 furthercomprising determining, at one or more remote servers, primary and/orsecondary geo-fence perimeter bands corresponding to saidpre-established crowd-drawing events and receiving at one or more remoteservers global positioning service signals, wherein said one or moreremote servers compares said global positioning service signals withsaid geo-fence perimeter bands, wherein said speculator electronicdevice includes a graphical user interface (GUI) for indicating to aspeculator a status indicative of whether said legal contract has beenaccepted by said lodging site supervisor, wherein said GUI furtherdisplays said primary and/or secondary geo-fence perimeter bandscorresponding to said pre-established crowd-drawing events, and whereinsaid geo-fence perimeter bands correspond to a primary boundary.
 22. Themethod according to claim 14 further comprising determining, at one ormore remote servers, primary and/or secondary geo-fence perimeter bandscorresponding to said pre-established crowd-drawing events and receivingat one or more remote servers global positioning service signals,wherein said one or more remote servers compares said global positioningservice signals with said geo-fence perimeter bands, wherein saidspeculator electronic device includes a graphical user interface (GUI)for indicating to a speculator a status indicative of whether said legalcontract has been accepted by said lodging site supervisor, wherein saidGUI further displays said primary and/or secondary geo-fence perimeterbands corresponding to said pre-established crowd-drawing events, andwherein said geo-fence perimeter bands correspond to a secondaryboundary.
 23. The method according to claim 14 further comprisingdetermining, at one or more remote servers, primary and/or secondarygeo-fence perimeter bands corresponding to said pre-establishedcrowd-drawing events and receiving at one or more remote servers globalpositioning service signals, wherein said one or more remote serverscompares said global positioning service signals with said geo-fenceperimeter bands, wherein said speculator electronic device includes agraphical user interface (GUI) for indicating to a speculator a statusindicative of whether said legal contract has been accepted by saidlodging site supervisor, wherein said GUI further displays said primaryand/or secondary geo-fence perimeter bands corresponding to saidpre-established crowd-drawing events, and wherein said geo-fenceperimeter bands correspond to an out of boundary condition.